Tuesday, June 1, 2010

I know what boys like, I know what guys want . . .

...well, not really. But, I am dedicating the month of June on the blog to MEN! That's right....it's time for:

Desserts for Dudes!

We do a lot of cute around here and I thought the month of Fathers' Day was the perfect time to go macho and honor our dads, husbands, sons, brothers, uncles with sugar. On the blog and twitter, I asked what your dad's favorite dessert is. Turns out, dads have a lot of favorites. But, there was a winner.....PIE, and not just any pie, pecan pie!

This recipe I cut out of a magazine years ago. There isn't a magazine name at the bottom, but just "October/November 2004." I knew I was hanging on to this baby for a reason!

Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake at 350 for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a food processor, pulse the flours, sugar and salt until combined. Add the butter and cold shortening; pulse until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized clumps. Add 3 TBSP water and pulse until a dough just begins to form. Add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time if needed.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12" circle. Place in a 10" (9" is ok) pie tin. Trim and flute the edges. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes, or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 375. Line the crust with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake in the lower half of the oven 15 minutes; remove foil and beans and bake an additional 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, heat the cream and 2 TBSP butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When butter melts and the mixture is hot, remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, without stirring, until sugar dissolves.

Dip a pastry brush in water. Uncover the pan and brush the sides with the wet pastry brush to brush down any stray sugar crystals. Increase heat to med-high and boil until sugar becomes a golden brown (about 5 minutes).

Remove from heat. Slowly add the cream, the mixture WILL bubble up, and stir until the boiling stops and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the pecans and vanilla.

Let sit 15 minutes (I forgot to do this...oh, no! This may be why mine was a little runny.)

Pour into baked crust and let sit at least 3 hours until cooled and set. (You can stick in the the fridge once cooled.)Now, *I* thought a brown sugar whipped cream would be delicious with this. Mr. E assured me that ice cream is much more manly, soooooooo, top this pie with ice cream.If you don't have time to (or interest in) making ice cream, let me suggest Haagen-Dazs 5-ingredient ice cream, Vanilla Bean. I am not a big fan of plain ol' vanilla ice cream. This ice cream, though, with its flecks of vanilla bean, I could eat in one sitting. It's creamy, vanilla-y and decadent! Trust me.

The pie is delicious...the caramel with the pecans all tucked into a buttery crust...but I'll admit, it is a bit soupy. Now, Mr. E assures me this is not a problem...it tastes good and that's what counts. Hey, it's Desserts for Dudes, who am I to argue?

Well, I hope during this month, you'll see one of your dude's favorite desserts! We'll be back to pink and sprinkles next month, not to worry. :)

{Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a 2nd piece of pie to eat!}

And, thank you, thank you to MutheringHeight who helped in the naming of this month! Duuude, you rock!

46 comments:

I think you should rename this, "Dessert for Mary!" This is practically my dream dessert, has been bookmarked and will be made stat! I'm drooling and I'm so tempted to get into the kitchen right now - yum!

OH BRIDGET!Man LOVING BRIDGET!I knew there was a reason MY GREG has a CRUSH on "BRIDGET....@ 350!"yeah!He really does!He'll say...and I QUOTE...."Now is that BRIDGET? BRIDGET...@ 350!!!!!"He's allllll about BRIDGET!And just wait!Just wait til I let him get a look at this PECAN PIE!!!!!!!OH ME!OH MY!He will be LOVING and adoring YOU even more!Bridget...the pie is PERFECTION!We're in SINK my friend!This weekend must have been alllll about pleasin' our MANLY MEN!I made Greg's favorite....OATMEAL COOKIES....MY STYLE...and CHIVE RISOTTO Cakes!yeah!I shocked myself and made Greg some RISOTTO!I made a FANTASY happen for him...I swear I did!He LOVES risotto!ANd up until this weekend...he had only enjoyed risotto in fancy places to eat!Pop over...you'll see!ANd I'm featuring the cookies...later in the week!Our MEN are so LUCKY!But we're LUCKY too!I'm DELIGHTED...thrilled that you are ALL ABOUT OUR MEN this month!Is this part of your hubby's Happy Father's Day present! Well I know he is honored!Looking forward to all the MANLY ACTION!xoxoxoxoxoxoYOU ROCK BRIDGET....@ 350!!!!!!!!

My hubby loves pie too! Guess what his fav is? Yes, pecan! I've made it twice, once it was soupy (we actually poured it over the vanilla ice cream:) and once it was hard (we smiled while we avoided breaking a tooth:). O'kay, he's given me 19 wonderful years of marriage, I guess I can try to give him a pecan pie. Thanks!

Pecan pie is definitely one of my boyfriend's favourite dessert along with pumpkin pie! I love the idea of making June a month for men, they always get looked over admist the sprinkles, fluffy frosting and cute cupcakes. Looking forward to more macho recipes!

Wowee that looks good! I don't like pecan pie because of the texture but maybe if it was soupy...with caramel...mmmmmm. I wonder if The Hubble likes pecan pie. Thanks for sharing! Oh, and I love this month's theme!!

*Soupy* or not, your pie looks wonderfully inviting and your crust looks as if it would melt in your mouth. That 5 Vanilla Bean ice cream looks great with it too! Your husband won't be able to keep himself out of your kitchen this month. Great feature idea Bridget.

You definitely know what kind of dessert my boyfriend likes. Pecan pie is one of his favorites. I prefer chocolate pecan pie. Come to think of it, most of the desserts he likes are non-chocolate, and most of the ones I like have tons of chocolate!

yum!! but don't think my hubby would be a fan...he likes nuts to eat one at a time or by the handful but seldom in anything. i love pecan pie though...have fond memories of mom making little tartlets for parties with it or making pralines...happy yummy tummy memories